How to build your own Capsule Wardrobe.

A step by step guide on how to build your own Capsule Wardrobe………….

As I mentioned in my previous post, which can be found: here, Jeans and a t-shirt are my staple/hero pieces. Therefore, I have chosen to build my capsule wardrobe around them. What are your staple pieces? We all have those items that we continuously gravitate too. They are the pieces you need to create your own Capsule Wardrobe around.

After that, carefully consider every aspect of your life that your newly curated wardrobe needs to cover:

• Day to day
• Workwear
• Evenings out
• Out-out
• Comfies (I am a sucker for loungewear)

In addition,  I tried really hard not to over complicate things. I am a mum to 3 monsters, which means I very rarely get the opportunity to go ‘out-out’. Therefore this part of my wardrobe only needed to be very small! Also, evenings out, meals, etc are few and far between which translates to ‘very little space needed.’ Workwear would need a larger percentage of space. Whilst day to day and comfies required the most room.

Think about your own lifestyle and decide how you will designate space. Once you have a clear idea, follow the steps below:

Step 1.

Collect every single item of clothing you own. (this took a while for me!) Then lay it all out and start to make piles of jeans, t-shirts, knitwear, dresses, skirts, etc. 

Here comes the tricky part……….   You need to get really honest with yourself. Go through each pile and pull out everything you wear regularly and put it to one side. 

Anything that is leftover, either pop in a bag for charity or create a  separate pile to sell on. (grabbing the sustainable lifestyle by the b*lls. See my sustainability post here)

After that, go back to the items you want to keep. I still had an unnecessary amount of clothing and as much as it was scary, I knew that in order for me to truly benefit from this process I had to be ruthless. So I went through it all again, only keeping the items I genuinely loved.

You can do this!!

Step 2.

Next, think about what is missing. As I said above, A blazer is my holy grail and yet I only owned 2 and one of them was falling apart. Also, most of my t-shirts had seen better days and they had gone into the charity bag.

Therefore, make a list including anything that you still need and start to look online for options. 

For me personally, Rather than just impulse buying as I usually do, I thought long and hard about each item. Was it in the budget, would it complement the rest of my wardrobe, could I see myself wearing it repeatedly? (for my personal capsule wardrobe edit see here.

Tip: When purchasing something new, ask yourself: “ Can I see myself wearing this item at least 50 times?” If the answer is yes, run for the checkout and purchase immediately. If the answer is no, pull up your big girl pants, and walk away.

Step 3.

Quality over quantity.

One of the main points with a capsule wardrobe is that you are making more considered choices, but these pieces need to stand the test of time. They need to last, wash well and still look great in the future. Primark is a bargain hunters dream however they are not big on quality and very rarely wash well. Unfortunately, we all do not have an endless disposable income so whilst it would be great to go and buy a jumper from Dior or Fendi, that will last us years, we are not all made of money you know!

Luckily there are a lot of high street brands that do provide great quality items. You just need to know where to look. Below are my top Picks:

H&M: Not all items in H&M are made equal. However, for the perfect quality knit try here.

Weekday: For the best quality, flattering pair of jeans try here.

& Other stories: Quite possibly my favorite highstreet store. For t-shirts that fit perfectly and last, try here, Or for the most beautiful dresses that will become a staple in your wardrobe, try here.

Marks & Spencer: Bit of a surprise offering, however for a great quality linen shirt at an event better price try here.

In conclusion …………………….

If like me, you are becoming increasingly frustrated with your wardrobe or you are wanting to have a more positive impact on our environment, I highly recommend creating your own capsule wardrobe. I am only at the beginning of this trial but so far I feel much better. It’s almost like a detox. My mornings are less cluttered and more organised and I have started to enjoy getting ready again and more importantly I have re-discovered my love for clothes.

Still unsure on how to build your own Capsule wardrobe? For outfit ideas check out my Pinterest account which is Jam packed full of them.

Any questions? If so you can contact me here.

Check back here soon for an update on how it’s all going.